PPFFD's: A Lion King Christmas Carol
by PPI-Archive
Summary: The first year of Scar's rule is ending, but Scar is just as ignorant of the famine as ever. To change his ways, he will be visited by three ghosts. Slight AU.
1. Stave One: Marty's Ghost

__We are writers, we are celebrators, we are puppies.__

_**A Lion King Christmas Carol**_

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><p><em><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own the Walt Disney Company or any of its assets, such as Walt Disney Animation and Marvel. I also don't own any TV series mentioned in this fic, nor do I own the likeness of Bob Iger. I do control these things, to an extent. Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol is under public domain, I think.<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>EDIT: I made a couple of minor rewordings, removed the entire executive exposition plot, and corrected my translation mistake, I changed it from Msimu Tamasha to Jua Tamasha.<strong>_

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><p><strong><em><span>Stave One: Marty's Ghost<span>_**

We cut to a shot of the barren Pridelands, superimposed snow falling onto it. Someone in the control room realized his mistake and turned off the snow. Then, from the top of the screen, in red and green font, covered in Christmas ornaments and unlit Christmas lights dropped the words _A Lion King Christmas Carol_. As the Christmas lights that covered it were lit, the words faded out and were replaced with the opening credits, also covered with lights and ornaments. As each opening credit changed, a new shot of the barren Pridelands was shown.

_A Paranoid Puppies Fanfiction_

_Directed by Lucky C.P. Acros_

_Produced by Coco C.P. Pett_

V

_With Niketa Calame as Nala_

_Zoe Leader as Sarafina_

_Adolf Hitler as Scar_

_Micheal J. Fox as Marty_

_I Take That Back, Marty Hyena as Himself_

_Pooh Bear as Ed_

_Sarabi as Herself_

_Zazu as Zazu_

_Jim Henson as Kermit _

_backspace backspace backspace_

_Oh wait, you're supposed to _press_ backspace..._

_Whoopi Goldberg as Shenzi_

_Pinky as Banzai_

_Mheetu as Himself_

_Darth Vader as Mufasa_

_Ahadi as Himself_

_Lucky as Himself_

_The PPFFD Employees as Themselves_

_and Jonathan T. as Narrator_

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><p><em>There, ahem, italics-<em>there was no doubt that Marty the hyena was dead. Rafiki, the pride's shaman, made sure of it, the king's majordomo, Zazu, had checked, even the former king, d-err, Mufasa had confirmed it. Scar's childhood friend was as dead as a rock, not saying that rocks are dead.

Scar had met Marty back when they were both young, along with Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed. In fact, he was the original leader of the quartet. When he grew up, while Scar continuously lived in the shadow of his brother, Marty went on to fight his way to leader of the hyena clan. This was back when hyena and lion, along with cheetahs, leopards, and other carnivores, lived together in peace in the Pridelands. Back when Scar's and Mufasa's father, Ahadi, ruled.

All that changed when a teenage Marty fought his way to leader of the clan, not only violating the strict "female monarch" rule, being neither of the royal family nor a girl, but also taking over the entire Pridelands and taking most of the food for himself. Whatever was left he gave to the hyenas. Nothing went to the other carnivores. Eventually, the lions, under the Prince Mufasa, took back control and the hyenas were "exiled" to the Graveyard. Sometime between the exile and the rise of Scar, Marty died.

And now you know.

After that, King Ahadi died, Mufasa became king, and, well, you should know. I mean, you should have at least watched the movie considering that you're here. Mufasa had a cub, Scar teamed up with what hyenas were left, Mufasa was killed, the cub disappeared,_ Scar_ rose to power, and so on.

Under Scar, the lionesses hunted and the hyenas ate. The hyenas, having not eaten anything since Ahadi's rule a couple years back, ate practically everything in the Pridelands. Unfortunately, Scar's rule co-in, coe-in, happened during a drought. When food started running out, Scar took most of it. The herds eventually moved away, only adding to the famine. Scar wouldn't even let the lionesses hunt beyond the borders, or let them have any of his food. Within months, the Pridelands were indistinguishable from the Elephant Graveyard, or the entire Outlands, all due to Scar not keeping a close eye.

The end of the first year under Scar was nearing, and it was time for the Msimu Wa Jua Solstice Tamasha, or Jua Tamasha for short. The Prideland holiday occurs several days before your Christmas, and some of its traditions are very similar to Christmas traditions. In short, it was a festival that celebrated the start of the sunny season, also known as Spring and Summer outside of the tropics.

Did I mention that Kenya is south of the equator, meaning that our seasons are reversed?

Ironically, it wasn't even sunny at all in the Pridelands, a big cloud of depression blanketed the lands, yet not a single drop of water to fall.

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><p>Now that we've gotten the exposition out of the way, let's get to the actual story.<p>

It was only days until Jua Tamasha, and Scar was walking down the paths of what was left of the Pridelands. He passed by Sarafina, trying to catch field mice, and Nala, watching her.

"Hello Scar," said Sarafina.

"Hello Sarafina," Scar replied angrily.

"What, you're not in the Jua spirit?" asked the young and naive Nala, who was still trying to recover from the cub's death by acting happy.

"Bah," out of nowhere, a flying humming bug appeared and started humming in Scar's ear, "Humbug!" he finished, trying to swat it away with his paw, and missing, "Msimu is nothing but a day when you already good-for-nothing lionesses get to slack off from hunting!"

"But Jua Tamasha is a time for giving, a time for peace, a time for happiness," replied Nala. Sarafina started clapping.

Scar growled at Sarafina, telling her to shut up. She stopped clapping. Then the bug came back, "Bah humbug!" he missed again. "As for you," he pointed a claw at Nala's stomach, "I don't see what you see in Jua."

"It's just that it's been months since, you know, the _stampede_."

"Yes, yes, my brother dead and so on."

"No, well, yeah, but I was talking about..." she drifted off.

"Ah, your friend, the prince."

"Um, yeah..."

"So, Scar," said Sarafina, interrupting the awkward silence, "do you mind if I take the Tamasha off?"

"In my opinion, that's no reason for slacking off."

"It's only once a year."

Scar growled at her again, "As much as I despise that holiday, if you must take that day off, I will give you the day off, just come extra early tomorrow," Sarafina smiled.

"Happy Jua Tamasha!" exclaimed Nala as she left.

"Good night!" replied Scar, "Now, I'll be in my cave next to Pride Rock. If you need me, don't!"

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><p>Scar was not one to be bothered by the heat that came with Jua Tamasha. Even with the clouds, it was still pretty hot in the Pridelands, not as hot as other Msimus, but hotter that during the msimu wa mvua. It was starting to get dark.<p>

When Scar got to his cave, it was already completely dark. The lionesses and the hyenas had already settled in and around Pride Rock. As he walked in, he, for a second, thought he saw one of the rocks look like Marty, but when he looked at the rock more closely, it turned back into a round rock.

"I must be going crazy! Marty's dead!"

Scar normally liked the darkness, but this time, he was worried. As the lion went to his bed, he looked around, trying to see anything that may look like Marty. Finally, when he was sure there was nobody around, he went to lie down in his bed. He heard a noise, a DING that humans would recognize as the sound of a bell ringing, that kept repeating. It started off low, but got louder and louder: ding...ding... Ding...Ding...DING...DING, DING, DING! Then it suddenly stopped.

A light lit from the front of his cave, and paw-steps, along with the sound of chains rubbing against the rocky floor, came towards him. Then that same humming bug came back, "Humbug!"

Then he saw it, the mangled, pale, transparent figure of a hyena, wrapped up in animal skins. Very transparent. He once heard Marty had no bowels, but he never believed it until now. The hyena dragged behind him chains, animal bones, and small rabbit cages.

"W-w-who are you?" Scar fearfully asked the ghost.

"I am who I used to be, back when I was alive. I used to be Marty," the figure replied.

"I don't believe it!"

"You can hear me, you can see me, what more proof do you need?"

"Well, sometimes a bit of bad meat may affect my eyes and ears, for all I know you could be a bad piece of field mouse!"

"But I am not," Marty unwrapped the animal skin holding his snout together, and his jaw fell, literally, to the floor. As he put it back on, Scar looked at him in horror, "Do you believe me now?"

"W-w-what do you want with me?"

Marty gestured at his chains, "See these chains, I spent my life building this chain, a life of selfishness, of arrogance, of megalomania. I didn't care about others, I only cared about myself, and now I must pay, walking these lands, bound by my own chains, watching others' happiness, until the end of time."

Scar looked at his own paws, worried that he would see chains covering _him_.

"But how are you here, and why?

"I actually don't know why you've only seen me now, I've always been here. In fact, ever since I died, I have been wandering the Graveyard and the Pridelands, asking myself, what could have been? I came here, days before Jua Tamasha, to warn you."

"Warn me, warn me of what?"

"I came to warn you that if you do not change your ways, you will suffer a similar punishment like me. I am going to give you a chance to prove yourself."

Scar started kissing his paws, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You will be haunted by three ghosts."

Scar looked up at his face, "Please don't tell me that is the second chance you were telling me about."

"It is."

"I rather wouldn't."

"You must."

"I rather wouldn't."

"Unless you are visited by these ghosts, you have no chance of a peaceful death. The first spirit will come tomorrow night, when the bells ring again," Marty ran out of the cave, followed by other spirits, attached to the same chain, leaving a very confused, but sleepy Scar. He fell asleep in a snap.

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><p><em><strong>AN: By the way, I'm not sure how exactly how seasons in Kenya work, so I just mixed what I knew of tropical weather with stuff I made up. If you want to know what " **_**Msimu Wa Jua Solstice Tamasha" ****_means, try using Google Translate. If not, I'll tell you next chapter. No flames. Please send constructive critisism, I know some the the phrases sound awkward, it's because I keep on mixing the Old English from the book with the more casual speech of the supposed Narrator._**


	2. Stave Two: The First of the Spirits

__We are canines, we are crazies, we are puppies.__

_**Stave Two: The First of the Three Ghosts**_

_**Disclaimer:**__** I don't own, well, anything really. I do own the PPI, the PPFFD, and the canines. Lion King and all of its characters are owned by Disney, and **_**A Christmas Carol **_**is in public domain.**_

**I will not update until I get at least three reviews. I'll get this story done by Easter, maybe.**

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><p>Scar woke up from his deep sleep, startled. What woke him up? The bells: "ding...ding...ding-"<p>

"What, the bells? Already? How could I have slept an entire day?" but that didn't matter. What does matter is how did he know that the thing that makes that ding noise is called a bell.

"I put it together," replied Scar.

Phew, I thought we had a plot hole on our hands.

"Ding...Ding...DING..DING, DING, DING, DING, DING!" and it stopped suddenly. Something started shimmering in front of Scar.

"No, not now!" The simmering light particles formed a figure, a lion-like figure, but smaller, with a bigger head. For the first few seconds, he seemed almost ageless, like an adult, but like a child at the same time. He had big muscles, but a baby-like face. His fur looked like it had gray streaks in it.

Eventually, the shimmering stopped, revealing a more constant-looking figure. The ghost looked almost cub-like, with a cub-like face, legs, and ears. His fur was an extremely light shade of tan, so light, it looked almost white. Everything about him screamed cub, everything except his eyes, which held an unusual amount of maturity for someone of his age. Scar recognized him almost immediately.

"Mheetu? You're the first ghost?"

"**I am who used to be Mhe-"**

"Give it a rest."

"**Fine, ahem, **fine. It's me, _Dad. _I am the ghost of Jua Tamasha Past," he said the _Dad _with an edge to his voice.

"So I guess you're here to give me a second chance, well I'll have none of that! In my opinion all this is nothing but," the bug came back, "Humbug!"

"You do realize that humbug is a human word meaning 'fake'?"

"Well, this is not a fake bug," the bug still kept bothering him, "HUMBUG!"

Mheetu sighed, "Just grab my paw."

"Why do you want me to—AHHHHHHH!" he screamed as he was whisked away by Mheetu who flew out of the cave and over the Pridelands, like a bird. They flew so fast everything around them looked like a blur, as suddenly as they started, they stopped at a watering hole.

"What just happened?" Scar asked, confused. He grew even more confused when he saw that the sun was rising over Pride Rock, "Where are we?"

"The watering hole, but a more important question you should be asking is, _when _are we?"

"Huh?"

"We have gone back in time, welcome to the Pridelands, on Jua Tamasha, back when you were a cub. Oh look, here you come," and sure enough, a young dark brown lion cub with a black tuft of fur on top of his head came to get a drink from the watering hole.

"Aww, I looked so cute!"

"Yeah, what happened Dad?"

"Oh, ha ha, very funny. Come here little cub, look at me," the adult lion tried to pet his younger self, but his paw went through his body.

"He cannot see or hear you, all he is is a vision of what has already happened," Mheetu told him as Scar got up, "Just watch."

"While we're waiting, umm, what's death like, son?"

"A little bland, no better than my short life," Mheetu replied, "Some father you were, I liked mom better."

"You mean Sarafina?"

"Yeah. At least death has its ups, I don't need to eat, I'm not chained up, and I'm away from _you_."

"Was I really that bad?"

"Kind of. The only reason I agreed to this was because Nala was involved. I'd rather have you chained for eternity."

"Nala?"

"Never mind, look," he pointed his paw towards a cub with yellow fur and an orange tuft of fur on his head, behind him stood a full-grown lion with yellow fur and a black mane.

"Hey Mufasa, do you want to play?" asked young Scar.

The adult Scar sighed, "I was so innocent back then."

"Sure, Taka," young Mufasa replied. Then he jumped onto him and started pretending to fight.

Scar sighed, "Ah, those were the good old days," Taka pinned down Mufasa, making Ahadi roar and pin him down.

"Mufasa is the one who is going to become king, so let him win!"

"But Daaad!"

"No buts, I'm going to show Mufasa the kingdom, so don't get into any trouble. It is Jua Tamasha, and I don't want you ruining the festivities."

"Fine," and Ahadi left, Mufasa looking back at Taka with a bit of arrogance in his eyes, but also a bit of sadness.

"So I'm guessing those weren't the good old days. It seems like bad paternal relationships run in the family," Mheetu said. Scar glared at him, "What?"

"Never mind."

As the two left, a dark shadow grew from behind the confused Taka.

"Watch out!" screamed Scar.

"He can't hear you!" screamed Mheetu.

Taka noticed the shadow and looked behind him...only to be tackled by a young Marty.

"Ha ha, you should've seen your face," said the young hyena, "You were all like," he made a frightened face, "and I was all like," he made an "attack" face, then he fell to the floor laughing as Taka glared at him angrily.

"Hey, can we come out now?" asked a voice from the bushes surrounding the waterhole.

"Sure, you can go," Marty replied.

"Great," from the bushes jumped out Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed.

"So what do you guys want to do?" asked Taka.

"Well, you see, there's a place at the borders of the Pridelands called the Elephant Graveyard that my pa told me about, how 'bout we go there while the adults are getting ready for the Tamasha?" asked Marty.

"The Elephant Graveyard? My father told me never to go there, he said that golden-back jackals lived there, the worst kind!"

"What do you have to worry about? It's not like he's ever going to find out? When has he ever cared about you, when all he does is remind you that Mu-whatsa is going to become king?"

"I guess you're right."

"I'm always right, I'm Marty. Come on guys," he gestured to the hyenas, "Let's go," and they all walked towards the elephant graveyard.

To the two future-dwellers, and to the audience, the scene faded away to show the aftermath of the visit.

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><p>"WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT GOING TO THE ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD?" yelled Ahadi at his son Taka, who was covered with scratches and bruises, one of them going down his left eye. He was being examined by Rafiki in the cave at Pride Rock.<p>

"That they're dangerous and filled with jackals," Taka replied in a bored tone.

"YES, AND WHO TOLD YOU TO _GO _TO THE ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD?"

"No one! But the hyenas asked-" he said the last sentence in a tiny voice.

"HYENAS! I SHOULD'VE KNOWN! I TELL YOU, YOU CAN'T TRUST A HYENA!"

"But they're my friends, they care about me, unlike you."

"MUFASA WOULDN'T DO SOMETHING AS STUPID AND RECKLESS AS YOU DID, AND HE WOULD CERTAINLY NOT BE FRIENDS WITH A HYENA!"

"Stop comparing me to Mufasa, I'm nothing like him!"

"OF COURSE YOU AREN'T, BECAUSE _HE _WILL BE KING AND _YOU _WILL NOT!"

Taka broke into tears, "STOP REMINDING ME!" and he ran out of the cave.

"Don't you think you were hard on the kid?" Rafiki asked.

"He needs to learn his lesson! By the way, how are his injuries?" Ahadi responded.

Rafiki sighed, "Nothing serious, most of his cuts will heal with time. However, one of the cuts will never heal and will turn into a scar, the one over his left eye." Older Scar, watching from the shadows, touched his old scar with his paw.

Suddenly, Rafiki got all happy again, "Ah well, considering what happened, the cub actually got away with very little injuries. Just put some ice on it, Rafiki knows best! Now, to get to the festivities," he turned around and started singing his nonsense song:

_Asante sana,_

_Squash banana,_

_We we nugu,_

_Mi mi apana!_

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><p>A still-sobbing Taka ran to hi mother, Uru, who was dragging an antelope carcass home.<p>

"What's the matter Taka?" she asked.

"Dad...hyenas...jackals...king...graveyard," Taka said in between sobs.

Uru patted him on the back, "There, there little one, don't cry. Let me talk to your dad for you."

"Thanks Mom."

"You're welcome," she stomped angrily into the cave, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY SON! STOP SCREAMING AT HIM! HE'S JUST A CUB, HE DOESN'T KNOW ANY BETTER!"

"Looks like that's another thing we have in common, we both have a caring mom," Mheetu's ghost noticed, "At least you're not dead!"

"So how's the old man," said a voice behind Taka, who jumped up, startled. He looked behind him and saw Marty, behind him, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed. All of them were covered in scratches and bruises. The hyena saw the lion's sad face, "I'm guessing not so hot. Ah well," Taka still remained silent.

"I knew it was a bad idea to visit the Graveyard, but you wouldn't listen," young Banzai whispered to Shenzi.

"_Me? _You're the one who agreed with him, I only tagged along for the ride," young Shenzi whispered back angrily.

"He he he," said Ed.

"SHUT UP!" the other two screamed angrily. Marty looked at them in amusement, then he looked back at Scar. More specifically, he was looking at the long, deep scar that ran over his left eye.

"Look at that cut! I think it's going to become a scar one day," he paused, "Yeah, a scar. That could be your cool nickname! What do you think?"

After a pause, Taka replied, quietly, "Okay."

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><p>Mheetu and Scar watched as the scene faded away...to reveal a giant gorge. No, <em>The <em>Giant Gorge. Can I just skip over this part?

"_No."_

"What? Why are we here?" a befuddled Scar asked.

"Well, it's not Jua Tamasha, but it's your past, and the turning point of your morality," below them, a stampede was going on just like in the move, complete with the music.

"Where is that music coming from?" asked Scar.

"The Buena Vista Music Group, also known as the Disney Music Group," Mheetu replied.

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just a meta joke, you wouldn't understand."

"Again, what?"

"Never mind."

Next to them, past Scar watched as Mufasa tried to save his son. Eventually, Mufasa started to climb the cliff and asked his "brother" to help him up. His brother, as you know, uttered the ironic, "Long live the king," and pushed him off.

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><p>The past scene once again faded, but this time, it faded to Scar's cave. Mheetu looked at his father angrily, "So you're not only responsible for the death of your brother, but the death of another cub?"<p>

"Only my brother, the cub was just a bonus," Scar replied. Mheetu rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Tomorrow, the bells will ring again, and the next ghost will come. Until again," and with that, Mheetu flew out of the cave into the night sky, and, unbeknownst to Scar, to the almighty. Scar, looking back at him, fell asleep once again.

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><p><strong>Lucky:<strong>** I am not updating until I have at least five reviews. I know that at least forty-eight people as of this posting have read the first chapter, but as far as I know, that could mean that forty-eight people accidentally clicked on this story. I'm not going to get any better if you don't update!**

**Coco:**** You may not know it, but there's a little foreshadowing going on here.**

**Lucky:**** (holding up eggnog and cups of hot chocolate) Who wants eggnog and hot chocolate?**

**Coco:**** (taking said things away from him) Let's not, these things make you go crazy. By the way, why did we have to make up our own holiday instead of using Kwanzaa?**

**Lucky:**** Because Kwanzaa is an African-****_American_ holiday, and above all, a human holiday.**

**Coco:**** Oh right. **

**Lucky:**** Please send constructive criticism, I know this story's not perfect and I want to know how to change that. No flames! Critiques and flames are not the same, no matter what they say!**

**Coco: Who are "they"?**

**Lucky: Does it matter, all that matters is that "they" are coming!**

**Coco: But who are they?**

**Lucky: "They" are "they".**

**Coco: Huh?**


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